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Winter 2002 No. 15
Page 2
SUMMER 2002 RESULTS
DORSET OTTER GROUP SUMMER 2002 SURVEY RESULTS | ||||
| No. Surveyed | Positive | Negative | % Positive | |
| River Avon | 6 | 1 | 5 | 16.7 |
| River Axe | 2 | 1 | 1 | 50 |
| River Frome | 42 | 8 | 34 | 19 |
| River Piddle | 15 | 3 | 12 | 20 |
| Poole Harbour | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Upper Stour | 52 | 14 | 38 | 26.9 |
| Lower Stour | 52 | 6 | 46 | 11.5 |
| West Dorset Rivers | 43 | 8 | 35 | 18.6 |
| River Wey and the Fleet | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| River Yeo | 8 | 4 | 4 | 50 |
| TOTAL | 233 | 45 | 186 | 19.3 |
Remember The Winter survey starts on the 1st December and runs until the 31st January. Results are then due in at the end of February.
Drop in positive results!!!!
Last summer 173 sites were checked, 22.5% of which were positive, so there has been a drop in the proportion of positive signs found! This is the first time that there has been a drop since the Dorset Otter Group began. Hopefully this is not bad news – it may mean that the increase in the Dorset Otter population is slowing, it may just mean that this was a bad month for finding spraint! More sites were checked this summer than in 2001, so this may also have an effect. Positive results for summer are usually a bit lower than other seasons as bankside vegetation is often high making accessibility to sites more difficult. However this is why we compare the same seasons! To see if this drop is significant we shall have to wait for the next two survey periods – so everyone look extra hard!
Update on the sad death of the otters caught in an eel net.
You should remember the grim discovery of a mother otter and her two cubs killed in an illegal eel net on the Stour (DOG Newsletter No. 13). Well it seems that ‘mummy’ was in fact a ‘daddy’!
(Appended on the web version – Ed)
Bronwen Bruce
A Happy New Year to all our readers
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